Gotye’s instant fame was years in the making

Bernard Perusse, GAZETTE MUSIC COLUMNIST09.17.2012

Somebody That I Used to Know has been a No. 1 hit in 18 countries, aided by a video that has been viewed more than 320 million times on YouTube. “The Internet has been integral,” Gotye says. “The video enhancing and really matching the tone of the song has been a reason people have shared it so widely.”

Gotye admits he is still adapting to commercial success. “I’ve been a lot busier than I ever thought I could be — and I already felt like I was super busy for a number of years.”

It’s not as if Australian singer-songwriter Gotye (pronounced just like “Gauthier”) hadn’t written catchy melodies before: Learnalilgivinanlovin, Hearts a Mess and Eyes Wide Open, for example, made an instant bid to get under your skin and in your mind, but only the last-mentioned squeezed into the Top 100 in the U.S. — barely. The charts in his home country and in Belgium, where he was born, were otherwise the sole ones to pay attention.

Then came Somebody That I Used to Know, a haunting slice of icy pop that could have stepped out of 1983. The single hit the top spot in 18 countries and the pole position on iTunes in 46 countries. Boosted by a striking, arty video (more than 320 million views so far on YouTube), the duet with New Zealand singer Kimbra became ubiquitous.

“The Internet has been integral,” Gotye said during a recent telephone interview. “The video enhancing and really matching the tone of the song has been a reason people have shared it so widely.”

But the song, in which a couple share memories and accusations after a breakup, seems to have struck a deeper chord. “People relate to the kind of confusion where people can stand with each other after relationships break down,” Gotye said. “Or maybe they’re relating to the specific way it’s expressed in that song — the vacillating between tenderness and reflection and the angst and bitterness about things.

And there’s a bit of novelty in the way Kimbra’s appearance is withheld until so late in the song, Gotye said. “There’s a melodramatic aspect, there’s a vaguely theatrical thing about the way that works, musically,” he said.

The path to an international smash started with a child named Wally De Backer. (The Gotye nom de disque was adopted in 2001.) Being absorbed by Puff the Magic Dragon in kindergarten through a set of headphones is his earliest musical memory, he said.

By the time he was 10, he was nagging his parents to buy him cassette singles by the acid-house band the KLF. But an unexpected gift when he was in high school set him on the road to sampling music.

A neighbour in Melbourne had heard De Backer and his band practising. The neighbour’s wife had passed away and he decided to leave her record collection with the teenage musician before he moved. The gift included a comprehensive collection of Elvis Presley’s albums, Gotye said, as well as some compilations of ’80s hits and If Looks Could Kill by the ’80s electro-funk band the Reddings.

The Reddings album was incredible, Gotye still marvels. “And it’s got my personal favourite track on it: the opener, In My Pants. There was some hysterical stuff and some really great stuff I’d never heard of before,” he said.

Within a couple of years, the collection had inspired Gotye to make sample-based tracks like the ones that eventually made up his first EPs, later collected on the debut album Boardface, issued in 2003.

Gotye started working his homemade CDs, contacting agents and promoters. Some interest from Australia’s younger-demographic-oriented Triple J radio was an exciting turn, he said.

His second album, Like Drawing Blood, was released in 2006, and although the knack for pop songcraft was already evident, breakout success would have to wait five years.

These days, Gotye is adapting to being recognized on the street and finding himself the subject of keen interest on social media. Asked what the biggest change in his life has been, he deflected with a joke: “Truffles for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he said.

Admitting that he hadn’t quite processed the commercial success yet, he settled on the things that hadn’t changed: the bond he still shares with his family, friends and girlfriend. “I’ve been a lot busier than I ever thought I could be — and I already felt like I was super busy for a number of years,” he said. “At times, it’s been overwhelming, but the real relationships in my life are the things that matter. They haven’t been affected — well, I hope, not too much. Maybe I should ask my family and friends.”

Dealing with the music industry is also a learning curve, although he has few complaints. “People come at you with things like corporate sponsorship offers, corporate gigs, alignments with products, opportunities to synchronize your music with different TV shows or films,” he said. “I treat them on a case-by-case basis, but I’m generally quite wary. I prefer my music to exist in its own space, or for people to come to it directly and naturally — not for it to feel like it’s lumped in with this giant corporate world that’s out there.

“Having started in a very DIY fashion, I’m very aware that now I’m being released by some very big labels around the world, so I am part of the corporate side of the music industry,” he said.

But Gotye said he still focuses on the songs. The visually arresting videos that have been made for them have come after the record, he pointed out. He acknowledged, however, that strong visuals in concerts by Sufjan Stevens and DJ Shadow helped inspire him to seek out strong video collaborators.

“Music can be a very visual language already, just in itself,” he said. “There’s a part of me that would be quite happy, quite satisfied simply making an album. With some artists, I prefer to disappear into a world where I want their music and their voice and their arrangements and the texture of their recordings to create a visual world for me. And when I make my recordings, I’m thinking the same way. I guess I’m thinking visually through the music.

“The making of film clips or collaborating with animators and directors is usually something that comes afterwards — almost like a response to the song,” he said. “In that regard, I’m very open to the video not literally trying to tell the story of the song, but creating a new hybrid.”

Gotye performs Friday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. at Metropolis, 59 Ste. Catherine St. E., as part of the Pop Montreal festival. Zammuto and Chairlift are the opening acts. Tickets cost $54.20. Call 514-790-1245 or go to admission.com.

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